They sat around the camp fire, Noelle telling them that they had less than a week left. Elaine sighed in relief, her feet and legs sore from all of the walking; the journey through the forest had been much shorter, and she had never traveled for this long before. If she had been alone, she would have taken her boots off and rubbed he feet. She could use magic to fix it, but Noelle told her that her feet would never grow used to it if she healed them every night, so she had been toughing it out so that she would grow used to walking all day with little rest.
She looked at her little group, the only people she had left in her life. Drake was sitting next to Noelle, joking and flirting with her while he drank from his water skin. The dark elf did not return his affection, although Elaine did notice that Noelle was no longer being rude or insulting the large vampire. Midnight had pulled out the terrifying weapon the humans shot Jack with, tinkering with it as she tried to learn its secrets. She looked next to her, seeing Jack and Jerry quietly talk about their past. She was surprised that, out of the entire group, Jack was the one that Jerry seemed to get along with the most. She guessed it had to do with Jack being the quietest out of the others.
She smiled, glad that she had friends with her through all of this. She shuddered at the thought of fleeing her kingdom alone, lost and being hunted by vampires. She did not mention it to the others, but she still got nightmares of when she and her guards were attacked, the vampires laughing and baring their fangs as they cut the elves down one by one before attacking her. She remembered it clearly, and remembered what Jack said the vampires were starting to do to her, the thought of it terrifying her.
She stood up, seeing Jack stop mid sentence and look over at her; his red eyes, out of the three vampires, were the most similar to blood, and the only one of the three that appeared to glow in the dark. They made her uneasy at first, but now she found comfort in those glowing red eyes; they were normally cold, but she could see his gaze soften whenever he looked at her, and she admitted to herself that she liked seeing that.
"I am going for a walk to clear my head. Do not worry about me, I will be fine."
She thought he would protest at first, having promised her mother that he would protect her, but he nodded, telling her to keep her guard up. She smiled at his concern, turning and walking away from the light of the fire into the darkness of the night.
She kept walking, feeling the cool breeze blow past her and play with her hair, enjoying how it felt on her skin. The moon was was a sliver in the sky, and she could barely see where she was going. She stopped before she lost sight of the fire, feeling the grass against her hands and legs, trying to think of nothing and relax. The journey so far had been hard on her, and she was amazed at how resilient the others were; no matter how brutal and savage things got, they almost always kept their heads, the only exception being when Drake lost it and tore that vampire in two.
She looked back at the fire, wondering how they do it. Is it because they are soldiers? She did not know about Jerry, but the rest all served in the military, and had been fighting for most of their lives. Did having to kill on command make them cold, or did it just make them better at controlling their emotions? She wanted to ask, but she knew that most of them had dark pasts, Jack and Noelle seeming to avoid the subject most of the time.
She was ripped from her thoughts when she heard movement behind her. She swung around, her heart leaping into her throat as she searched the dark grass, seeing nothing out of the ordinary. She was alone, pretty far from the others, and it was too dark to see well; she felt her heart beating faster and faster as fear gripped her, unable to even think about using magic, and she decided to turn and go back to the others.
She turned around to leave, and froze as she saw a figure standing before her. Before she could do or think anything, something hit her in the head hard, Elaine feeling a flash of pain before everything went black.
. . .
She woke up slowly, groaning in pain as her head pounded like her brain was beating against the inside of her skull. Without opening her eyes, she could tell that it was still dark, or at least she was somewhere dark. She opened her eyes, seeing three figures standing a few feet away from her, all three looking down at her. They didn't bother to cover their faces, and as her eyes adjusted to the darkness, she could see that they were all human men.
One of the, having a large scar across his face and having no hair on his head, turned to the others, frowning and pointing at her as she struggled to get up.
"You sure this is the one? We will be killed if you are wrong."
She got up on one elbow, her head feeling heavier than it should, and she could feel dried blood on her skin. She tried to get up, but found that she did not have the strength, falling back to the ground and busting her lip, tasting blood and dirt as she spit it out of her mouth.
"Do you see any other small elves with golden hair and green eyes?" The other man, having long brown hair and a mustache to match, argued. "She is the one. Now we just need to inform those blood suckers, and we will have enough coin to live like lords."
Elaine looked at them, her heart racing as she tried to focus and use her magic. She failed, unable to concentrate through the pain and fear. The brown haired man and the third one went to what looked like a door, opening it and speaking to the bald man.
"We will go find the blood suckers. Stay here and watch her; that drug should keep her from running for a while yet, but do not get lazy and fall asleep or anything like that. If I come back and she is gone, I will kill you before the vampires do."
With that they went out into the night, shutting the door and leaving them alone in the small room. She knew that the others would see this as an opportunity, one person easier to deal with than three, but she could feel nothing but fear as the bald men slowly turned towards her, a grin spreading across his scarred face as he looked down at her.